Machinery for stretching hat-brims



A. ALEXANDER. I Machinery for Stretching Hat-Brims.

' No. 225,782. Patented Mar, 23, 1880.

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N.FETERS PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHFR, WASHINGTON D C lu t-ion.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AMAS ALEXANDER, OF TILTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

MACHINERY FOR STRETCHING HAT-BRIMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,782, dated March 23, 1880.

Application filed January 19, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMAS ALEXANDER, of Tilton, of the county of Merrimack and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Stretching HatBrims; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view; Fig. 2, a front elevation; and Fig. 3, a side elevation, illustrative of the manner in which I arrange the operative parts of a machine embodying my invention, the nature of which is duly set forth in the claim hereinafter presented.

The main operative parts of the said machine are sustained by three standards, A B 0, applied to a base-plate, D, such standards being formed and arranged as represented. In one of these standardsviz., that marked B-are two shafts, E F, the upper one, E, being supported in suitable boxes a a, and provided at its front end with one of a pair of a corrugated frustums or stretchers, G H, their corrugations being capable of meshing together while the two frustums may be in revo' The lower frustum is fixed upon the shaft F, which is supported in the standard in movable boxes 0 (1 arranged therein, as shown, and provided with helical springs of, disposed with them and in the standard, in manner as representedthat is to say, one spring is beneath the front box, so as to press it upward, while the other spring is 011 the top of the rear box, so as to press it downward. The said rear box has journals i extending into slots made in the standard, the same being as shown. Furthermore, there is screwed up into the'standard and against the last-named box a screw, l.

The springs and movable boxes, as described, serve to press the lower stretcher toward the upper one, and to allow thelower to be moved away from the upper of them, as occasion may require, for the introduction of a hat-brim between the two.

Bevel'gears K L, to engage with one another, are fixed upon the shafts E F, respectively, the upper of the said gears being to engage with a long bevel-gear, M, whose shaft m is supported in boxes or bearings n it carried by the intermediate or rear standard, such shaft being provided with a band-wheel, 0.

The third standard, or that marked G, supports the arbors or shafts p q of a flat corrugated eone, N, and a tapering corrugated frustum, 0, formed and arranged as represented. The said cone and frustum I term the retainers.

On the shaft of the upper retainer there is fixed a series or set of spur or slightly-beveled gears, P Q R, they being of diflerent sizes or diameters, and adapted to engage, respectively, with the long driving-gear M, it being nnderstood that the standard 0 is to be adjustable on and capable of being secured to the bedplate, so as to enable either of the gears P Q R to be brought into action with the drivinggear, in order that the rotary movement of the retainers may be increased or diminished.

Bars S T, hinged to the standards B G and extended through an ear, 1', projecting from the back standard, serve to aid, with a setscrew, when screwed into such ear, in keeping the standards in their due relations to each other.

In operating with this machine that part of a hat-body to be stretched for being converted into a brim is to be inserted between the stretchers, and also between the two retainers, after which the drivjn g-gear is to be put in revolution, in which case both the retainers and stretchers will be revolved. As the stretchers will be revolved at a speed greater than that of the retainers, the brim will be moved along by them, and will be stretched while passing from the retainers to the stretchers, in which case the brim will be caused to stand out from the rest of the body in the shape of a flange thereto.

What I claim as my invention is as follows, viz:

The combination of the pair of fluted conical or tapering stretchers, the pair of fluted tapering retainers, and mechanism for revolv- 9 5 AMAS ALEXANDER.

Vitnesses E. S. DARLING, AMos W001). 

